Brush strip



Nov. 24, W42- -w.y v. GooDHUE BRUSH STRIP Filed March 5, 1941 PatentedNov. 24, 1942 VUNITED vsucres PATENT orrlcla'.y

BRUSH STRIP William V. Goodhue, Ipswich, Mass., assigner to United ShoeMachinery Corporation, Flemington, N. J., a corporation of New JerseyApplication March 5, 1941, Serial No. 381,884

f claims.

This invention relates to brushes formed as elongated strips which maybe shaped as desired or wound upon a hub and is herein shown as embodiedin a strip brush of the type which is selfsustaining.

It has long been common to provide strips of brush material ofindefinite length which can be stored and from which sections can beremoved to make up brushes of various types, shaped according to theultimate purpose for which they are to be employed. In the making ofrotary brushes in which this strip material is wound edgewise about acore, the rows of bristles are commonly retained between paper or clothstrips by adhesive, stitching or the like and, after the strip materialhas been assembled upon the core, it is clamped between end iianges tohold it in radial relation to the brush core. In other instances, inwhich backing strips of self-sustaining material, such as malleablemetal, are employed, it is not always necessary to provide a supportingmember other than the backing strip itself,

. One important requirement of such brush strips is that the individualbristles shall be tightly held by the backing strip so that they willnot become loosened in use. Still another important requirement is thatthe portions of the bristles extending outwardly from the backing stripshall be able to breathe freely by having an opportunity to slightlyinterchange their individual positions without becoming radicallydisplaced with respect to the backing strip. Still another desirablefeature is the protection of the bristles from undue crystallization atone point in their lengths, in the case of wire bristles, or wear at onepoint by contact with the edges of the backing strip as will be the casewhere the flexing of the bristle takes place always about a xed pointand where no provision is made for smoothing the edge of the strip toprevent cutting the bristles.

With these features in mind, an important object of the invention is toprovide an improved brush construction embodying one or more of thesevarious desirable features and which at the same time may be madequickly and cheaply.

In accordance with this object, the illustrated construction embodies aself-sustaining backing strip having its margins inturned to griprespectively against the adjacent portions of the strip the inner endsof two rows of bristles. This strip has a channel-shaped cross section,and another portion of the bristles extending outwardly of of theinturned margins and is capable of flexing across the rounded edges ofthe channel provided thereby.

From another viewpoint, the invention resides in an improved method o=fmaking a brush strip in accordance with which one margin of a strip isinturned and a row of bristles is gripped beneath said margin. The othermargin of the strip having been inturned to provide a rounded edge, thestrip is then bent to form a channel and to bring the inturned marginsagainst the row of bristles thereby again to grip them with the bristlesextending outwardly from the channel. Preferably, and as illustrated,two rows of bristles are employed, the inner ends of which are clampedbeneath the respective inturned margins of the strip.

In accordance with these and other aspects of the invention, a typicalbrush strip will be described in the following specification and shownin the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 shows a at backing strip;

Fig. 2 shows the strip after its preliminary bending to provide marginalgrooves;

Fig. 3 shows the insertion of rows of bristles in the marginal grooves;y

Figs. 4, 5 and 6 indicate successive steps in the process of againgripping the bristles between opposed faces of the inturned margins ofthe backing strip by the progressive bending toward each other of saidmargins to form a channelshaped structure; and

Fig. 7 shows in section one end of the completed brush strip.

Although it will be understood that various strip materials may beemployed which will render the iinal product sufficiently rigid so thatit will be self-sustaining and which at the same time will be d'uctileso that the completed strip may be bent to shape or wound in annularform to provide a brush of any desired shape, a particular strip S,which is illustrated in Fig. 1, is made of some such material as mildsteel. The margins I2 and I4 of this material are bent toward the bodyand preferably the inner portion I6 is at substantially the same timebent in the reverse direction to give the strip a crosssectionalconformation resembling the letter W with spaced grooves I8 ready toreceive the brush material. For ease of description, the brush materialB is termed bristles It will be understood that not only true bristlesderived from animals may be employed but that any other bristle-likesubstance such as animal hairs, vegethe channel is gripped between theopposed faces table fibers, wire and the like may be substituted inaccordance with the use to which the brush is to be put.

In accordance with the next step of the brushmaking method, bristles Bmay be inserted in one or both of the grooves I8 of the strip to formonly one row or preferably two rows, as illustrated in Fig. 3, and themargins I2 and i4 inturned or bent farther to grip the ends of thebristles which are within the grooves, as shown in Fig. 4. It will beunderstood that the invention is equally applicable to the utilizationof doubled bristles in which the folded ends (not shown) are placed inthe grooves I8 instead of the butt ends. After this, a fold is formed inthe inner portion I6 of the strip adjacent to the margins, in successivestages such as have been shown in Figs. and 6, carrying with it theinturned margins to produce a channel within which the inturned marginsare located as shown in Fig. 7. The bodies of the bristles minglesomewhat and are again gripped this time between the opposed originallyoutside faces of the inturned margins I2 and i4, the rounded outerportions of which form the edges of the channel. This creates a stripconstruction in which the outwardly extending portions of the bristles Bare free to breathe or bend laterally between the rounded inturnedmargins which, as a result of the process employed, are away from oneanother and avoid the gripping of the bristles along a sharp line orbetween rough edges against which the bristles might be cut as the brushis flexed in use. The butt ends 253 of the bristles are tightly grippedbeneath the inturned margins and, by reason of this fact and the furtherfact that the bristles are reversely curved about the edges of theinturned margins and are again gripped between the opposed faces of theinturned margins, the bristles are held so securely that it is almostimpossible for the bristles to loosen or be pulled out.

It will be understood that the base 22 of the strip S does notnecessarily have the Particular conformation which is shown in Fig. 7,and that shapes which will facilitate the clamping of the strip upon anysupport to which it is applied may be employed. For example, the corner24 of the channel strip S may be bent to provide a more pronounced beador shoulder than that shown, to aid in holding the strip beneathoverhanging clamping members, if desired.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A bush construction comprising a channel strip having inturnedmargins beneath an inner face of at least one of which there are grippedthe adjacent ends of a row of bristles, another reversely directedportion of said bristles being gripped between the opposed outer facesof said inturned margins and capable of flexing across the roundedchannel edges provided thereby.

2. A brush construction comprising a channel strip having both marginsinturned within the channel, and rows of bristles the inner ends ofwhich are reversely curved away from each other and are gripped beneathsaid respective margins, the bodies of said rows mingling as they extendout of the channel.

3. The method of making a brush strip which consists in bending inwardlyone margin of a metal strip to form a groove, gripping a row of bristlesin said groove by said inbent margin, the other margin of the stripbeing inturned to provide a rounded edge, and folding said strip and thebristles to make a channel from which the bristles extend outwardly andto bring the inturned, rounded margins of the strip into grippingrelation to another portion of the row of bristles.

4. The method of making a brush strip which consists in gripping. theinner ends of rows of bristles beneath the inturned margins of a stripof self-sustaining material, and folding said margins toward each otherand toward the bodies of the bristles to form a channel and to grip thebristles between said margins with the inner ends of the bristlesreversely curved within the channel away from each other.

5. The method of making a brush strip which consists in bending theopposed margins of a metal strip toward the body of the strip, bendingthe body of the strip in the reverse direction to provide a shapesimilar to the letter W, inserting the endsl of two rows of bristles inthe grooves thus provided in said strip, bending the margins farthertoward the body of the strip to grip the bristles therein, and foldingthe strip along its mid-portion to form a channel strip from which thebristles project and to carry the opposed inturned margins into grippingengagement with the body of the bristles.

WILLIAM V. GOODHUE.

